This hour of the Limbaugh Wire brought to you by America's new headless working class
By Simon Maloy

We sometimes present ourselves as master prognosticators, able to predict exactly what Rush will talk about on any given day. But we'll let you in on a secret -- it's really not that hard. Anyone who experiences Rush's show everyday via the Dittocam, as we do, will notice the rather large computer screen to El Rushbo's right. And even with the sub-optimal resolution of the Dittocam, one can clearly see which website is more often than not displayed on that screen: The Drudge Report. That's the big secret, ladies and gents -- Rush Limbaugh turns over most of his programming decisions to Matt Drudge. So when one roams over to The Drudge Report and sees the type of bold red headline he has up right now -- “TERRIFYING 57% TAX LOOMS FOR BIGGEST EARNERS IN NYC” -- it's a pretty safe bet to say that Rush is going to talk about this. And when you factor in Rush's well-established ire over New York City's tax rates, you can pretty much consider it a lock. And whenever higher taxes for the wealt... -- sorry, the “achiever class” -- come up, you can almost guarantee that we'll be treated to yet another extended dissertation on the miracle of supply-side economics and the genius of Ronald Reagan (who actually raised taxes, but we're not supposed to talk about that).

Rush got things rolling this afternoon by saying that he'll be out tomorrow, but just tomorrow, so it's “Open Line Friday!” on Thursday. Rush then said he's been watching Sotomayor hearings, and the Republicans have blown a couple of things, but they're doing a generally good job exposing her for who she is -- someone who doesn't have the guts to admit that she's a full-blown liberal radical. And this woman butchers the English language, said Rush. But he's been watching these hearings and everything has been laid out, and transparency has not helped Sotomayor, the Democrats, or President Obama.

Rush then lamented that the days when you could watch legislation being crafted on C-SPAN are over, saying that there are never any hearings or debates on legislation anymore, and it's all taking place behind closed doors “because it's so ugly.” Case in point for Rush was -- and remember we called it -- the New York Post article Drudge linked to documenting how Obama's health care bill is “going to kill New York City.” If every newspaper around the country would publish a chart like this, said Rush, it would go a long way toward stopping this thing. After reciting every fact and figure from the chart, Rush said that there is a tipping point where people are just going to stop working because it isn't worth it. Rush added: “This is the greatest illustration of the whole purpose of the Obama administration: return the nation's wealth to its so-called rightful owners -- the people that haven't earned it, the people who haven't tried to earn it. They are the minorities, the victims, the poor. And this is to chop the head off of the people who make this country work.”

Leading into the break, Rush repeated that there's a tipping point at which people say “what's the point,” and “they” -- the Democrats, we guess -- are doing this by design. Rush said you can't possibly predict what's going to happen in the economy until you figure out what's going to be enacted, adding, “I can tell you if this gets enacted, there's no growth. There will not be any economic growth. And I'm telling you, that's the design.”

After the break, Rush treated us to some “fascinating data” in the latest Gallup poll, which found that Mitt Romney leads the pack among Republicans for the 2012 presidential nomination. The “real news” in the poll, said Rush, is the favorable ratings of the current leading contenders. Sarah Palin's is at 72 percent. Do you know what this means? The media and the Democrats are trying to destroy Sarah Palin, said Rush, which means they're telling us who they're most afraid of. Rush put this 72 percent in perspective -- name any Republican or conservative who had a 72 percent approval rating after their life had been under assault for an entire year. This is not going to sit well with the elite, country-club bluebloods in the Republican Party, said Rush, who also had a message for all the “wimpy” Republicans who want a candidate that the media like -- you would be guaranteeing a Republican defeat.

Another break and Rush was back saying that we now know, thanks to the New York Post, that the utter destruction of the United States private sector will result from Obama's health care bill, and so this is it for the Republican Party. If they can't stand up unified to oppose this as an economic disaster, said Rush, then they should find another reason to exist. Sadly, said Rush, there are some in the GOP, like Colin Powell, who think we should be paying more taxes, but this is a golden opportunity for conservatives and Republicans.

Rush then said that Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ) was tying Sotomayor in knots this morning by zeroing in on Ricci. She said she was relying on precedent, and Kyl asked, “What precedent?” She supposedly muddled the answer, said Rush, and Kyl scored some points. Rush then wanted to play sound bites of Sotomayor “butchering” the English language. Rush said it's “fine and dandy” to “butcher” the language, but you wouldn't know about it if it weren't for Rush. But if it's “fine and dandy” to “butcher” the English language, then why exactly should we care that Rush is bringing this to our attention? Well, Rush got around to that, airing sound bites of Sotomayor committing some not-particularly-egregious mispronunciations, and saying that we were told this woman worked hard and is “brilliant,” but you don't find too many brilliant people making these sorts of mistakes. In fact, in claiming that Sotomayor had misused the word “providence,” Rush explained that providence is a city in Rhode Island, as well as the record wine collectors keep to verify the history of a bottle of wine. Um... actually, Rush, that would be provenance. As if it weren't painfully clear, this was just a lame attempt to reinforce the right-wing smear that Sotomayor is too stupid to be a Supreme Court justice.

Then Rush managed to take things down a couple more notches, as he reiterated his theory that the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee are feeding Sotomayor their questions ahead of time. Rush linked this to Sen. Al Franken's (D-MN) questioning of Sotomayor on Perry Mason: “She knew this was coming. How in the world -- if I'm a Supreme Court nominee, and some clown senator asks me about -- the last thing I'm gonna do to prep for my hearing and confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court is for me to answer a question about Perry Mason, a TV series back in the '50s.” And, of course, any mention of Sen. Franken sends Rush flying right off the handle in ways most amusing: “She knows the questions coming from the Democrats, even from that clown, Senator Franken, who stole a Senate seat. It's amazing. It's a great country. They recount the votes in Iran in a conflict over there and Ahmadinejad gets more votes than he had in the original vote -- why, just like in this country. Franken's 250 votes short; by the time, they finished, he's 250 votes long.”

Leading into the break, Rush said that the media think that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has become a “puppet” of his. Graham has spent a lot of time since he teamed up with Sen. John McCain trying to earn the respect of the media by disagreeing with Republicans and conservatives, said Rush, but, even after all that, the media still think he's a tool of Rush. And the liberals saying that Graham is a slave to Rush may have gotten to him, because, this morning, he praised Sotomayor. Rush then teased the next hour, saying “we've got the audio sound bites -- a couple of audio sound bites of unhappy leftist legal beagles with Sotomayor's unwillingness to come forth and be an honest Commie babe.”

Rush closed out the hour with his first caller of “Open Line Friday!” on Thursday, a woman who always thought that Rush was a loud-mouthed idiot, but when she saw his CPAC speech, she was converted. Rush said he's not surprised that she was converted by the speech, but what did she believe prior to that? The caller said she works in law, so she's surrounded by Democrats and liberals, and she only saw Rush through the media filter. Rush said he got an email today from a guy who said that, yesterday, he finally convinced his girlfriend to listen to Rush, and she was turned off because Rush was talking about Obama throwing like a girl. Caller said Obama does throw like a girl, and they need to get him into some manly sports because, now, he looks like an idiot instead of just sounding like one. Rush, as you might suspect, loved the call.

Greg Lewis and Zachary Pleat contributed to this edition of the Limbaugh Wire.

Highlights from Hour 1

Outrageous comments

LIMBAUGH: Folks, if you have never believed me, believe me now. This is the greatest illustration of the whole purpose of the Obama administration: return the nation's wealth to its so-called rightful owners -- the people that haven't earned it, the people who haven't tried to earn it. They are the minorities, the victims, the poor. And this is to chop the head off of the people who make this country work. That's the purpose of this.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: This is why I said, yesterday, that you cannot -- any economic forecast -- gross domestic product, unemployment, whatever -- you're going to forecast the future of the country, you can't possibly predict it with any certainty at all unless you know what this kind of stuff -- how much of this kind of stuff is gonna be enacted. And I can tell you if this gets enacted, there's no growth. There will not be any economic growth. And I'm telling you, that's the design.

[...]

LIMBAUGH: She knew this was coming. How in the world -- if I'm a Supreme Court nominee, and some clown senator asks me about -- the last thing I'm gonna do to prep for my hearing and confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court is for me to answer a question about Perry Mason, a TV series back in the '50s.

Enemies list

Sen. Franken's victory is clearly still gnawing at Rush:

LIMBAUGH: She knows. She knows the questions coming from the Democrats, even from that clown, Senator Franken, who stole a Senate seat. It's amazing. It's a great country. They recount the votes in Iran in a conflict over there and Ahmadinejad gets more votes than he had in the original vote -- why, just like in this country. Franken's 250 votes short; by the time, they finished, he's 250 votes long.

“Socialism” watch

LIMBAUGH: She said that phrase four or five times over a period of as many years in various speeches. It's not subject to misinterpretation; it's who she is. And I gotta take a break, but we've got the audio sound bites -- a couple of audio sound bites of unhappy leftist legal beagles with Sotomayor's unwillingness to come forth and be an honest Commie babe.